SEC Charges Penthouse With Accounting Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Penthouse International Inc., a former executive of the publishing company and a former shareholder with accounting fraud.

Penthouse founder Robert Guccione agreed to settle related SEC allegations that he misled investors. Guccione, who resigned from the company in 2003, settled without admitting or denying the SEC’s claims. Regulators claim New York-based Penthouse issued inflated quarterly results in March 2003 that contained an electronic signature certifying they had been reviewed by Guccione, then chief executive and chief financial officer. In fact, the SEC said, the report hadn’t been reviewed by Guccione or by the company’s outside auditor and lawyers.